This invention relates to a collet holder with a rotation mechanism and method, and, more particularly, it relates to a collet holder having a plurality of collets supported in one unit and with each collet being rotatable about it own longitudinal axis. There is a mechanism and method for securing the collet in various selected rotatable positions.
The prior art is aware of collet holders for rotatably supporting a plurality of collets. Those collets each receive and clamp a work piece and they can be rotated to various angular positions for presenting the work piece for various machining tasks.
The present invention improves upon the prior art by providing a collet holder wherein the collets are accurately rotated to selected positions and they are firmly held in the selected rotated position for the machining operation. That is, the rotation is precise and then a holding force is applied to the collet to assure that the work piece is retained in the desired work position for the forceful machining operation.
Further, this invention provides for electric and hydraulic powering for the collet function of clamping the work piece and the function of rotating the clamped work piece.
Still further, there is an electric controller that can be programmed to establish the rotated positions. Also, there is operation that is initially actuated to take up any backlash in the system, and that provides a zeroing function, and thus a starting position is established. If machining is to be done at that position, then it is carried out and the work piece can be rotated to a next position, if desired. Finally, the hydraulic force is released and the work piece is released from the collet, and additional work pieces can be inserted into the collets for additional and like machining, if desired.
To assure precision in achieving the rotated positions of the collets, the collets are rotated together in unison through an interconnected drive, and the collets are then secured in the selected rotated position by holding mechanism that is applied to the diametrically opposite sides of each collet to provide equalized force on those opposite sides of each collet.